Attorney General Merrick Garland has now appointed two special counsels to investigate two presidents (one former, one current) for mishandling classified documents while out of office. Donald Trump is accused of keeping classified documents after leaving office. We now know that Joe Biden did keep classified documents after stepping down as Vice President -- and before being inaugurated President. The pundit class is convinced that the appointments have nothing to do with justice or equal application of the law. We know the first appointment is to prosecute Donald Trump for something -- anything. As for Joe Biden, there are two predominant theories for the second special counsel appointment -- and frankly, both could be correct.

I personally subscribe to theory 1. Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel to investigate Joe Biden’s document indiscretion, as a means to obstruct the imminent congressional investigation. Any attempt by the Republican-led House to subpoena information, or interview Justice Department officials will be met with: “I cannot comment about an ongoing investigation.” The Dems will claim that any attempt by the Republicans to investigate is jeopardizing the DoJ investigation. That will continue until around November 6, 2024 -- or maybe until Maricopa gets its ballots counted sometime in December. It worked for the “Russian collusion” hoax. There’s no reason to think it won’t work again.

Theory 2 is that Merrick Garland is part of a Democrat conspiracy to toss Dementia Joe under the bus, so they can run over him before the next election. They figure Joe will screw up the next campaign, since 2024 is unlikely to be a basement campaign -- which is where Joe does his best work. While this theory may be correct, the Dems are being cautious. Cackling Kamala Harris, while anxious to pilot the bus, is fully capable of screwing up the next election just as badly as Joe might.

Notice that nobody -- except the harpies on “The View” and that congressman who thinks Guam is going to capsize -- believe this is a legit investigation. The “walls are closing in” crowd thinks it’s an investigation to find out how Donald Trump hid classified documents in the most secure place on earth -- next to Joe’s Corvette. Seriously -- that’s what they’re saying. I think we can safely conclude at this point that only the mentally certifiable and intellectually stunted think this is a righteous investigation.

Everyone else (Republican and Democrat) seems to know what is going on -- even if they won’t publicly admit it. The Department of Justice is meddling in the next election. The DoJ is either helping Biden with his legal trouble, or it’s helping the Dems with their candidate trouble -- or both.

Which brings me to my chilling conclusion. Corruption at the DoJ is no longer a matter of debate. Everybody knows the DoJ is crooked. They’re just not sure what variety of crookedness is at play this time.

After the Hillary Clinton email investigation, the Russian collusion hoax, and the Pete and Lisa adulterous insurance policy, the department’s credibility was threadbare.

Then Joe Biden appointed Merrick Garland to head the department, and now we’re not even pretending that justice has anything to do with the Department of Justice. Under Garland’s leadership, our highly paid public servants have:

• Persecuted Prosecuted a bunch of January 6 protesters for taking selfies on public property
• Raided the home of a former president and rifled through his wife’s undie drawer
• Censored the speech of political opponents
• Confiscated the electronic devices of political opponents -- with news cameras in tow
• Challenged red-state voting laws
• Challenged red-state redistricting
• Arrested prolife protesters with armed raids
• Pushed transgender grooming of children on the states
• Targeted concerned parents as domestic terrorists
• Gone on a snipe hunt for rare and elusive white supremacists

Now everyone, on both sides of the political aisle, presumes that Heir Garland is running another political game with his most recent special counsel appointment. We just don’t know for sure what game it is.

That everyone believes it, and Merrick Garland doesn’t care, confirms that we’ve lost a few things that are critical to a healthy functioning constitutional republic. We no longer have:

• Equal justice under the law
• The guarantee of due process
• Freedom from unreasonable search and seizure
• Institutional defense of our Constitution

Both political sides know the DoJ is corrupt. However, while one side timidly admits it, the other vehemently denies it. The Dems are lying because they like the DoJ playing on their team, but they’re losing the narrative battle (53 percent of the public thinks the FBI is Joe Biden’s Gestapo). The Republicans are sick of their base being demonized, but lack the political power to do anything about it. Donald Trump challenged the DoJ and FBI. Look how that turned out for him.

Each party has self-serving reasons to either defend or attack the DoJ. Fixing any of this mess will have to wait until one side wins the debate. Depending on how that debate ends, Americans will get either accountability or single-party hegemony.

The real tragedy is that all Americans have been betrayed by the Department of Justice. Its officials have violated the oath that they swore to us -- the citizens who entrusted them with power. They have no honor, and they don’t seem to care.

John Green is a political refugee from Minnesota, now residing in Idaho. He has written for American Thinker, and American Free News Network.  He can be followed on Facebook or reached at greenjeg@gmail.com.

Image: DoJ